>Mime-Version: 1.0 >Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 16:48:14 -0700 >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Bill Bartlett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [workfare] LL:ART: Why hard work isn't working any more >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Status: > >THE AGE >Why hard work isn't working any more >BY SHARON BEDER >2000-10-20 23:03:01 > >It is no accident that the downsizing of the 1980s and '90s has been >accompanied by a resurgence in propaganda aimed at reinforcing the work ethic. > >The wave of retrenchments and sackings in English-speaking countries has >been accompanied by growing inequalities in pay between executives and >ordinary workers and an increasing substitution of full-time permanent jobs >with insecure, temporary and part-time jobs. > >Employers have been left with the problem of motivating workers in >restructured workplaces, where hard work does not lead to a secure, >well-paid job. > >Associated with the downsizing and the temporary jobs is a massive increase >in the number of people relying on welfare. Welfare has long been >characterised as eroding the work ethic. Governments and employers fear >that a life on welfare, despite the low level of benefits and constant work >tests, might seem to be a more desirable option than working in a >mind-numbingly boring, poorly paid job. > >Governments in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States are all >implementing welfare reforms aimed at maintaining the work ethic of the >unemployed. Long-term welfare entitlements have been abolished, and >increasingly sole mothers and disabled people are being expected to work. >The requirement to work for benefits has been introduced to ensure the >unemployed do not loose their work ethic and to make unemployment a less >desirable option than a low-paying job. > >The values associated with the work ethic cause people to be judged by what >work they do and how hard they work. The work ethic leads to a belief that >those who are wealthy have achieved their success through hard work and >those who are poor deserve to be, because they have failed to make the most >out of the opportunities available. In a work-dominated society, happiness >must be earned through hard work. The stress and/or boredom associated with >work are the price one has to pay in order to attain happiness. > >The work ethic and the respect given to the wealthy, who are supposed icons >of hard work, are not inherently natural nor inevitable but have been >promoted and reinforced by those who benefit most from them. Since the >early Protestant leaders preached the work ethic, work has come to be seen >as an essential characteristic of being human and work, no matter how >tedious it is, is generally considered to be better than no work. Work >provides people with a sense of belonging, a place in the order of things. >Work has become central to defining the identity of modern citizens. > >Today the work ethic is taught in homes and schools. The desire of >employers for well-trained employees with a good work ethic has put >pressure on schools to promote a work ethic in their students and to instil >work values such as punctuality, discipline and obedience. > >Increasingly, schools parallel the workplace in organisational structure >and in their expectation that children work hard. Those children that >appear to "work hard" get better grades. > >But is the work ethic really appropriate for the 21st century? It is based >on assumptions fast becoming outdated. Those pushing the work ethic today >claim that every person needs to work, and work hard, if productivity is to >increase. All progress, it is argued, depends on increasing productivity. > >The fallacy of this assumption is becoming clear as fewer people are >required in the workforce and more consumer products that we are urged to >buy add little to the quality of our lives. The escalating production and >consumption that is necessary to provide most people with jobs is degrading >the environment at rates that undermine any improvements that can be >achieved through technological and legislative change. > >Employment has become such a priority that much environmental destruction >is justified merely on the grounds that it provides jobs. And people are so >concerned to keep their jobs that they are willing to do what their >employers require of them even if they believe it is wrong or >environmentally destructive. > >The social benefit of having most able-bodied people working hard all week >goes unquestioned, particularly by those who work hardest. Few people today >can imagine a society that does not revolve around work. > >We need to find new ways of judging and valuing each other that are not >work and income dependent. It would be a sad world indeed if producing >goods for consumption was the highest goal to which humans could aspire. > >Sharon Beder is the author of Selling The Work Ethic: from puritan pulpit >to corporate PR, to be published by Scribe Publications on November 1. >E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >This story was found at: >http://www.theage.com.au/news/20001021/A63166-2000Oct20.html > > >************************************************************************* >This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without >permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, >scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal >copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of >the copyright owner, except for "fair use." > > >-- > > Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ > >Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop >Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink >Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- > Workfare-defeat: a list for discussion about the international > resistance to workfare To subscribe, post to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with > "subscribe workfare-defeat" in the BODY of the message > ** This material may be freely distributed, provided this ** > ** footer is included in full. ** >
